Did Duterte really swore at Obama?
Since no Filipino has come out to criticize the English translation of the Filipino phrase “putang ina,” made by the media, I am volunteering to do so.
The said phrase was uttered by Philippine President Duterte and was translated by the media to mean “son of a bitch” causing President Obama to cancel his official meeting with Duterte. Even Joseph Connoly, who probably does not know a thing about the Filipino language, blindly and ignorantly echoes the same translation in his poem published in this newspaper on Sept. 14.
The phrase “putang ina” is literally translated as “bitch of the mother,” which does not make any sense. But the genesis of the phrase used to be “puta na ina,” which translates as “the mother is a bitch” or “the bitch is the mother.”
The phrase is normally used as an interjection showing the speaker’s determination to do what he says he wants to do. In the case of Duterte, he was using the interjection to show that he was strongly determined to reject any discussion with Obama with respect to his policy of extra judicial killings in his country.
The phrase being correctly translated, Duterte is correct in saying that he did not say that Obama was “son of a bitch.”
Reynaldo O. Yana
Saipan
It’s close enough.
You seem to be making a point that there is some important semantic distinction between “the mother is a bitch” and “son of a bitch.” I don’t see the difference other than that if Obama were a female then the
Tagalog epithet might be translated, “daughter of a bitch.” Either way it is functionally the same.
BTW, I think that you will find that “puta” is from the Spanish which means whore. If it did mean dog or bitch at one time in Spanish it no longer has that connotation and is a cuss word meaning whore. It has a cognate in the French word putain meaning whore and the American English word poontang. It must be a very old word and at least as old as the oldest profession itself.
Anyway, a strong case can be made that DU30 was calling Obama’s mother a whore. Given the pseudo birther brouhaha surrounding Obama, DU30’s insults are worse than being in poor taste. This guy is heading no where good.
Really, Rey? You’re an apologist for Duterte, “the Donald Trump of the Philippines.” Your actually want him let off the hook for the slur by contending that it was just an “interjection” expressing his resolve that the U.S. President not be allowed to raise the issue of his policy of extrajudicial judicial killings, which policy constitutes the most fundamental violation of due process of law possible and makes George Bush’s human rights violations (torture) look like child’s play.